OUR VIEW: We must continue to pursue the dream

Sunday

Jan 19, 2014 at 3:45 AM

You need only pick up a newspaper, punch up the Internet or listen to a newscast to know that we're still searching for the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We're closer than we were in 1963, but despite strides made, much of the hate that defined our nation during those turbulent times still infects America, often in new ways.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight.

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

You need only pick up a newspaper, punch up the Internet or listen to a newscast to know that we're still searching for the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We're closer than we were in 1963, but despite strides made, much of the hate that defined our nation during those turbulent times still infects America, often in new ways.

What it means is that our work is not done. If we do not embrace humanity with the passion and vigor of a Martin Luther King, we shall never overcome. Instead, hate will dominate.

ä In Wesley Chapel, Fla., last week, a retired police officer allegedly shot two people — one fatally — when a man refused to stop texting during the movie previews.

ä On Interstate 81, a man on his way home to Maine from Maryland, where he had been visiting family for the holidays was followed and shot to death Jan. 4 after being run off the highway in Pennsylvania. Police believe the man was a victim of road rage.

ä In Florida's Polk County, a woman plans to sue her late daughter's school, which she claims failed to protect the 12-year-old girl from the alleged bullying that drove to her suicide last September.

These three senseless deaths — and so many more — are anchored by hate. Though King's peaceful struggle for equality had its roots in racial injustice, his voice cried out to a much larger audience. Our nation remains scarred today by ignorance and hate not unlike that King railed against — gay bashing, bullying, ethnic and gender prejudice — despite passionate leaders who promote love, acceptance and tolerance. As for racism, it continues to tarnish our nation.

Our challenge today is not unlike the one King embraced more than a half century ago. Makaziwe Mandela, daughter of another champion of peace and righteousness, Nelson Mandela, said following her father's death last month: "None of us are born hating another — we are taught to hate, and if you can teach a human being to hate, you can also teach a human being to love, to embrace and to forgive."

We must become the teachers, and we can start on Monday when our nation observes King's birthday. Children off from school need to know that this is not just an extra day tacked on to the weekend, but a day to pause and reflect on a man who was a catalyst, a game-changer. This was a man who spent 11 years traveling more than six million miles speaking out against injustice and indignity.

Martin Luther King, Jr. prayed not just for racial justice, but for the human harmony that can bring peace to all people. It's a prayer for all faiths and not for one day alone. It's a prayer to start and end our day, a prayer that should reverberate throughout our communities, a prayer to share among all people.

It's a prayer to teach our children because maybe, just maybe, they will be the ones to finally get it.